


Blood on the water

by Dunloth



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Kakashi Lounge Event, Konan lives, Konan-centric, Pre-Relationship, Rain prompt, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23595031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunloth/pseuds/Dunloth
Summary: Konan doesn't die alone after her fight with Tobi/Obito. Team 7 finds her and takes care of her. Kakashi and her have an interesting conversation.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Konan
Comments: 13
Kudos: 22
Collections: The Kakashi Lounge





	Blood on the water

**Author's Note:**

> Written for The Kakashi Lounge Discord server and [Tumblr blog](https://the-kakashi-lounge-blog.tumblr.com/), for the prompt April Rains, April 2020.

Heavy rain falls over the troubled waters of the lake by Amegakure village. It washes over the remains of the battle, over the dark figure of a purple-blue haired woman floating in the center of a spot of red that grows bigger as she bleeds into the dark, chilly water. She floats adrift, at the mercy of the stormy tides, eyes closed, face serene, her black robes swaying around her, her lips slowly turning blue.

Konan is beyond pain now. The masked man that killed her left without a second glance, like she doesn’t matter anymore—because she doesn’t. No one close to her is still alive. No one will mourn her.

A lonely figure approaches through the cold rain, treading skillfully over the water—another shinobi. This one is clad in a faded white cloak, their face hidden by a hood, the glint of a lopsided hitae-ate beneath it. They kneel by the floating woman, reaching to the pulse point in her neck with a hand clad in a black fingerless glove.

There’s a faint flutter of pulse there.

Carefully, they lift the woman out of the cold waters and into warm arms, holding her close before running towards the shore and shelter of a fisherman’s hut nearby.

The door creaks when they enter the dark room. There’s a bed, barely a wood bunk covered by a humble straw mattress. At least it’s dry; it will have to do.

The cloaked shinobi gently lets their charge down on the dirty floor; she’s too soaked to be put on the bed. When their arms are free they remove the hood. 

That’s when Konan’s eyes flutter half-open, trying to focus in the dim light of the hut. She sees a man uncloaking a mass of spiky silver hair, a Konoha hitae-ate slanted over his left eye, and half his face hidden under a black mask. _Sharingan no Kakashi,_ she thinks. _Not a friend._

“She’s barely alive. She’s been stabbed through the stomach. The cold must have kept her from bleeding out,” he says, without turning around, when another two figures wearing similar shinobi clothes get hurriedly into the hut, removing their wet cloaks. One of them, a very young kunoichi, kneels by the woman with a frown, and puts her hands over her bleeding wound. They start to glow green.

 _A med-nin. How lucky am I?_ Konan thinks, before the soothing warmth of the healing chakra radiates through her body and she passes out again.

⁂

Konan wakes up dry and warm. Her body is stiff, she feels too weak to move.

Hatake Kakashi looks up from where he’s sitting on the floor in the farthest corner of the room, reading an orange book by the dim light of an oil lamp, one leg bent in front of him. 

“How are you feeling?” His voice reveals no emotion.

“Good,” she says, her voice cracking. It’s not entirely true, but she’s good enough compared to being dead, as she would be without the help of these Konoha shinobi.

Kakashi lights another lamp on. Konan looks around, and sees her weapon bags and her things carefully set on a little bench by her bunk. She reaches clumsily for her water flask, and takes a long drink.

Her throat feels better now. She looks at the enigmatic shinobi who is looking back at her, waiting for what she has to say.

“I remember you. You came once with Jiraiya-sama. You insisted on sleeping outside our house.”

Kakashi remembers her and the other two children living by themselves in a wretched house far enough from Ame village, with a flimsy roof that Jiraiya tried to fix more than once—Jiraiya was no thatcher, and lacked the skills nor the focus to do a good job on that roof.

“Your roof had leaks. If I had to get wet anyway I preferred the open air, and I didn’t trust you.”

“We were all children. We thought you were snotty.”

“I was a child, but I was also a jounin. And yes, I was too stiff back then.”

Konan doesn’t need anyone to remind her of the cruelty of the shinobi system. The lesson is well carved in her skin.

Kakashi stands and walks to the window. He makes a hand sign to the outside. A minute later the med-nin girl gets into the hut.

“She’s just awoken,” Kakashi informs Sakura.

Sakura goes to Konan’s bunk. “May I?” she asks, gesturing to Konan’s bandages. Konan nods. Sakura checks her wound, her temperature, her general state.

“The wound’s healed fine. Don’t make harsh movements for a couple days, try to rest, eat, drink plenty of water, stay in bed if you can.” Sakura arranges Konan’s black clothes back and smiles at her.

“Thank you, medic-san. Can I know your name?”

“Sakura,” she says, and blushes a little.

“Thank you, Sakura, for healing my wound. I’m in debt with you.”

“You did a great work, Sakura,” Kakashi praises her too.

“Don’t mention it. I’m going back with Sai.”

Kakashi smiles his eye-smile at Sakura as she leaves the hut.

“Are you their jounin-sensei? They don’t look like genin to me. And they are only two.”

“No, definitely they’re not genin.” Sakura is already a chuunin, advancing fast as a medical nin, and Kakashi couldn’t even imagine Sai as a genin.

“They seem fine shinobi.”

“They are.”

Kakashi walks to a table and gets the covering lid off a mug. It starts smoking with an appealing smell. He takes the mug to Konan. “We made some soup. Drink it, it’s still warm.”

Konan thanks him and takes the mug. It warms her numb hands. It’s tasty, too. She didn’t realize how hungry she was, probably a bit dehydrated too.

After she finishes the soup, exhaustion sweeps her into sleep. Kakashi takes the tilted mug from her hand, and pulls the tattered blanket up to cover her better.

⁂

Kakashi too closes his eye and naps for a few minutes while Konan sleeps. He’s tired, their mission’s been fast and they had few hours of sleep in the last three days. When he wakes up he finds Konan looking at him, pensive. 

He stretches his neck to one side to ease a kink and groans softly. “What is it?” he asks Konan.

She thinks for a moment before speaking. “Why did you take me here? Why did you help me? I’m Akatsuki.”

“You're not Konoha's enemy anymore. You didn’t deserve to die like this.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does.”

“I will not be missed. There’s no one left to remember me when I’m gone.” She runs a hand through her hair. It’s matted, she’ won’t be able to fix it without a comb. She desists.

“What about the people in Ame? You’re their leader.”

“Yes, I am,” she sighs. “I think it’s time they find someone more suited.”

“You’re suited enough, I think. Naruto told me about you, and Nagato. And Yahiko.” 

A pained expression passes over her face on hearing those names, but it goes away fast. Kakashi keeps on talking.

“Naruto thinks you’ll be a good ally to Konoha. I trust his impressions of people.”

She’s not in the right mood to stand a political negotiation right now. Her words with this shinobi can have consequences for her people. Konan knows Kakashi’s close to the Godaime Hokage of Konoha—he’s probably one of her council members. A legendary shinobi, a war hero, son of the White Fang, leader of the Hatake clan—and probably his last member. 

“Don’t take my words as a diplomatic statement, but what Naruto thinks of me doesn’t matter. Amegakure can’t survive. The next time the Great Nations clash, we’ll be stuck in the middle, as we’ve always been. The big armies will stomp over us, as they’ve always done.”

“The world is changing, Konan. Can’t you feel it?”

Yes, she can—and she doesn’t like what it’s changing into. She feels guilt for her part in helping Madara, but now it’s too late for regrets—and to stop him.

Kakashi seems to guess her thoughts. He shakes his head. “No, I don’t mean Madara and his madness. Imagine that we win this war. The world after the war will be drastically different than it was before. This enemy has made all shinobi nations ally together, for the first time in history.”

Kakashi’s words have a tinge of emotion to them that wasn’t there before. “Have you seen the new Kages? Tsunade, Gaara, Mei. They don’t act like their predecessors. Onoki and A, they are still old guard, but you can see they’re changing their ways, too. The new world will be an interesting place.”

"I’ve learned to be wary of interesting times,” Konan replies, bitter.

“Well, it’s probably the wrong time to say this. You may think I’m a fool, but I have hope in the future.”

Konan is surprised by Kakashi’s words, and finds it difficult to believe he’s sincere. He sounds naive, like an idealist.

For Konan, idealism died with Yahiko.

“ _If_ we stop Madara’s world domination plan. That’s a big _If_.”

“Yes, we must focus on that now.” Kakashi sounds a bit appalled again.

They stay in silence.

“I heard you’ll be one of the five generals of the allied shinobi army. Congratulations. You’re an important man,” Konan half-teases him; right after, she realizes it’s been a very long time since she teased anyone.

Looks like being back from the dead and having nice company for once is good for her mood.

Is Kakashi blushing a bit? No, it must be Konan’s imagination. He looks a bit embarrassed, anyway. He ruffles his unruly hair.

“I’ve been an active shinobi since I was five. This is what I’m good for.”

 _This is the only thing I’m good for,_ she hears underneath his humble tone. She feels a pang of sympathy. “What do you want to do when this war ends? That is, if Madara doesn’t end the world as we know it.”

Kakashi thinks his answer. “To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t though too much about it.” 

Konan gets the feeling that perhaps he thinks he won’t survive this war. She used to think the same herself.

“When I get too tired of this life I dream of becoming an artist. I would like to use my paper manipulation to create beautiful things.” _Not to kill people,_ she doesn’t add.

Kakashi thinks the dreamy half-smile on her face is beautiful. “It’s a nice dream.”

They don’t talk politics anymore.

⁂

They pass the afternoon like this, talking, enjoying a few quiet hours in this rainy day, in this place by the outskirts of the village of the high buildings.

Kakashi feels strangely at ease here, with this woman that is no longer an enemy of Konoha. 

_I feel like I know you,_ Kakashi thinks. _Like I’ve known you all my life._

For once, a memory of Kakashi’s young days is not a haunting memory, but a pleasant one. He decides to cherish this remembrance of Konan and her brothers back when they were all children doing their best to find their place in the shinobi world.

“I’ll remember you,” he bursts at some point.

“What?” Konan tilts her head, puzzled.

“I will remember you. You said no one would, if you were gone. I would.”

Konan smiles. “So you would. Thank you.” It’s a tiny thing, a silly reassurance, but somehow it makes her feel a bit warmer inside.

⁂

There’s a light double knock on the cabin door. Sai opens it and takes half a step inside.

“Our target is moving. We have to go.”

Kakashi nods. “I’ll be out in two minutes.” Sai closes the door after him.

Kakashi stands and gathers his things, feeling awkward. “Well.”

“Well,” Konan replies, with a smile. “Thank you, Hatake Kakashi, for taking me out of the water. Thank your med-nin again for me. She did a great job.

Kakashi feels a strange reluctance to leave Konan here, alone, but she can take care of herself. She’s been doing it all her life. “Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be. I’ll send a message to my people to come and help me back to the village.”

“Good bye, then. I hope we’ll meet again, as allies.” 

“I hope so, too.”

There’s nothing more to say. Kakashi nods, ready to leave; before leaving he opens his sharingan for a second, to save a glimpse of this cabin, of Konan’s soft smile.

Sakura and Sai are ready when he exits the hut. “Let’s go,” Kakashi says, simply.

They jump away and leave without a sound, without a trace.

⁂

A couple hours later Konan feels strong enough to stand. She gets out of the cabin, leaning on one hand on the wall for support as he walks to the door.

It has stopped raining a little while ago. A gap has opened between the grey clouds, and the rays of the setting sun sneak through the opening. It’s been days since Konan last saw a piece of blue sky, some rays of sun. It’s a perfect ending for a day that started really bad, but got much better. For the day she was destined to die.

Konan makes up a little bird-like creature with a drop of chakra and her paper jutsu, and sends it flying to Ame village to ask for a backup team to come for her. They should be here by the next day. She can stay for a night here, it will be good for her. She wants some quiet time to think.

The sunset colors are beautiful. She admires them until the night comes.

**Author's Note:**

> I refuse to accept canon Konan's death, fight me if you want (but you won't change my mind).


End file.
